Tag: starred review

LibraryReads chooses THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS and THE RAVEN’S EYE!

LibraryReads chooses THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS and THE RAVEN’S EYE!

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Anne Spieth

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!

LibraryReads logo


The November LibraryReads list was announced today and two wonderful Macmillan mysteries cracked the top ten! 

The #2 pick for November is THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS by New York Times bestselling author Julia Spencer-Fleming. This eighth book in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series raises the stakes as the pair's latest case involving a missing teen puts a strain on their new  marriage and the baby on the way. And coming in at #8 on the list is THE RAVEN'S EYE by Barry Maitland, the latest novel featuring DCI David Brock and DI Kathy Kolla of Scotland Yard. Brock and Kolla find themselves investigating a mysterious death among the houseboats that line the canals around greater London that just might be linked to another earlier tragic accident. 

See the full November 2013 top ten list on LibraryReads.org.

Thank you to everyone who voted for these great books! Now it’s time to keep the momentum going! You can continue to help support them by promoting each month's selections in a featured display in your library. No space? No problem! LibraryReads provides FREE downloadable marketing materials, including flyers and online banner ads. It's like pushing theeasy button Easy Button.

It’s never too early to vote for LibraryReads titles! Nominations for the December list are due November 1. Remember to nominate early and nominate often!

Not sure what we're talking about? LibraryReads is a new program which harnesses the value of "library staff picks" into a single nation-wide discovery tool, a monthly list of ten newly released must-reads. 

To learn more about how to participate in LibraryReads (and get FREE e-galleys), click here to read our FAQ. [...]

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We’ve got 2013 National Book Award nominees! WooHoo!

We’ve got 2013 National Book Award nominees! WooHoo!

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Anne Spieth
Over the course of this week the National Book Awards longlist was published and we are delighted to have several nominees! 

Longlist for Nonfiction

THE UNWINDING: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer
One of the finest political journalists of our generation, Packer weaves together complex narratives from the past three decades to create a riveting examination of a nation in crisis. It's already received three starred reviews, including this one from Booklist: "Packer offers an illuminating, in-depth, sometimes frightening view of the complexities of decline and the enduring hope for recovery."
Available in hardcover from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Longlist for Poetry

METAPHYSICAL DOG by Frank Bidart
A vital, searching new collection from one of finest American poets at work today. "The poems of METAPHYSICAL DOG are at once emotionally bracing and full of intellectual reward. Bidart is widely admired by other influential poets; he seems in line for even more attention than he has received." --Publishers Weekly, starred review & PW Pick.
Available in hardcover from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

INCARNADINE by Mary Szybist
The beautiful and inventive second book by the poet Mary Szybist, whose first book, GRANTED, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. "Whether or not readers are attuned to the religious content, these are gorgeous lyrics, in traditional and invented forms—one poem is a diagrammed sentence while another radiates from an empty space at the center of the page—which create close encounters with not-quite-paraphrasable truths. This is essential poetry." --Publishers Weekly, starred review & PW Pick.
Available in trade paperback from Graywolf Press

Longlist for Fiction

SOMEONE by Alice McDermott
The NBA nomination is another well-deserved accolade that this “stunning hymn to the ordinary” (More Magazine) has received in addition to being a PW Pick of the Week, September Indie Next selection and recipient of four starred pre-publication reviews. People gave it 3 ½ stars in the main review of the Sept. 16 issue and many others are singing McDermott's praises, including The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Elle, O Magazine, and NPR's Fresh Air.
Available in hardcover from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


Finalists for the award will be announced on October 16 and the winners on November 20. Congratulations to all nominees!   [...]

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Stars and Rave Reviews… Oh My!

Stars and Rave Reviews… Oh My!

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Anne Spieth
Friends, today we're sharing stars and rave reviews for THE LAND ACROSS by Gene Wolfe and DUPLEX by Katherine Davis. 

The full-page New York Times Book Review (9/22 issue) had this to say about DUPLEX, the coming-of-age love story where time, place, and mind all bend in extraordinary ways:  

"[I fell] in love with Davis's writing, what it did to me, that combination of horror and excitement that spilled out of the book, into my past, into the now, into everything around me. Few books have given me this sort of real-time thrill.... [DUPLEX] wormholes through the real and unreal in a way that is always compelling even if it doesn't make immediate sense to the top of the mind, the human experience always recognizable even in a world that feels like a much-needed nightmare version of 'Brigadoon.' When you are lost in the uncanny woods of this astonishing, double-hinged book, just keep reading, and remember to look up. Kathryn Davis knows right where you are." (Lynda Barry, author of CRUDDY)

DUPLEX is available now from Graywolf Press.

And... Hitting your shelves in November is Gene Wolfe's latest standalone novel, THE LAND ACROSS.

Wolfe is generally known as one of the greatest living writers of science fiction and fantasy. He's won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2007, and just this year he received the SFWA Grand Master award. 

With all that acclaim, we're very excited for THE LAND ACROSS, a new fantasy that seamlessly blends mystery, travelogue, authoritarianism and the supernatural. Set in the present in an imagined Eastern European country, an American travel guide writer is trapped the moment he crosses the border. At first it seems like pure bureaucracy--only later it's evident that there are supernatural agencies at work. But why? Is our hero a spy or is he an innocent citizen caught in a Kafkaesque trap?

THE LAND ACROSS has already received two starred pre-publication reviews: 

"Wolfe, in masterful mood, builds his characters, explores the puzzles, links the elements together and contrives to render the backdrop both intriguingly attractive and creepily sinister. Sheer enjoyment." --Library Journal, starred review

"Wolfe evokes Kafka, Bradbury, and The Twilight Zone in combining the implausible, creepy, and culturally alien to create a world where every action is motivated by its own internal logic, driving the story forward through the unexplored and incomprehensible." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

**And let’s not forget that Ali Fisher had her eye on this gem for a while now... Check out her review on Uncharted Pages.  
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For Your Consideration… November LibraryReads suggestions

For Your Consideration… November LibraryReads suggestions

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Anne Spieth

Friends, we know your "To Read" list is long and piles are high. We also know that the deadline to nominate titles for November's LibraryReads list is only two weeks away (Oct. 1). If you'll indulge us, we'd like to help you navigate those piles by sharing some of our favorite November books for your nomination consideration: 

THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS by Julia Spencer-Fleming
This starred Booklist review says it all: "This novel, the eighth starring Clare Fergusson and Russ van Alstyne, is among the best in the series, combining steady action with complex, sympathetic characters and an immersive setting. Readers seeking tales of city crime reaching small towns will love the well-crafted setting and story but shouldn’t expect a cozy; there’s plenty of grit here.”

Update: THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS is a December Indie Next selection! 
WHERE THE MOON ISN'T by Nathan Filer

Recently named a November Indie Next selection, Nathan Filer's debut novel about two brothers—one who goes missing and the other who doesn't quite come back—is a “deeply affecting and insightful in its account of mental illness" (Booklist), "A haunting story about how to mourn when the source of your grief will never go away” (Kirkus Reviews), and "should prove catnip to book group participants (especially those who loved Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)" (Library Journal, starred review). 


FRACTURES by Lamar Herrin

A hydrofracking controversy unearths a family's divisive passions and demons when a beleaguered patriarch must decide the fate of his land and children in this enveloping family drama. "Herrin has managed to transform the high profile, politically divisive issue of fracking into a thoroughly human, moving family drama…. Beautifully crafted.” – Kirkus Reviews (click to read our full article on FRACTURES)

AN OLD BETRAYAL by Charles Finch
“The upper-class amateur sleuth, an endangered species even in historical mysteries, is very much alive in Charles Finch’s charming Victorian whodunits.” —The New York Times Book Review. In the seventh book of Finch’s bestselling Victorian mystery series, a case of mistaken identity has Charles Lenox playing for his highest stakes yet: the safety of Queen Victoria herself. 

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Focus on FRACTURES

Focus on FRACTURES

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Anne Spieth

For fans of sprawling family dramas such as Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM, Jane Smiley's A THOUSAND ACRES, and Richard Russo's EMPIRE FALLS, Lamar Herrin's new novel FRACTURES is right up your alley. 

FRACTURES centers on the Joyner family whose home sits atop prime Marcellus Shale. When men from natural gas companies begin to lease property all around the family’s hundred acres, the Joyners start to take notice. Undecided on whether or not to lease the family land, patriarch Frank Joyner must weigh his heirs’ competing motivations, thus deciding the fate of his land and children. 

Kirkus Reviews did a feature interview with Lamar Herrin and early reviews for FRACTURES are great: 

“Herrin has long been drawn to morally complex situations (House of the Deaf; The Lies Boys Tell), and he examines another one here with great sympathy, psychological insight, and intelligence. What is so endearing about this book is that even under intense pressure, the members of this clan retain their decency and humanity. There is tragedy here, but there are also inspiring moments of compassion and kindness. A deeply moving novel that is highly recommended for fans of literary fiction.” – Library Journal

“Herrin’s deeply contemplative examination of this contentious topic is less about the environmental fallout from an invasive destruction of the land and more about the emotional fragility of a family who feels all too deeply the loss of a way of life.” – Booklist, starred review 

“Novelist, memoirist and short story writer Herrin (Romancing Spain, 2006, etc.) has managed to transform the high profile, politically divisive issue of fracking into a thoroughly human, moving family drama…. Beautifully crafted.” – Kirkus Reviews

 

Fractures tweet

Available on Nov. 12 from Thomas Dunne Books. [...]

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Happy #BookBday (9/10/13 Edition)

Happy #BookBday (9/10/13 Edition)

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Anne Spieth

It's Tuesday and you know what that means (all together now): 

♫♪♫♫♪ Haaaappy Book Birthday to Youuuu, Happy Book Birthday to Youuuu! Happy BOOK Birthday dear: 

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell
It's the #1 pick for the inaugural LibraryReads list this month, an Indie Next selection and has glowing reviews, including four starred pre-publication trades and love from Entertainment Weekly ("Consider me a fangirl of this charming coming-of-age tale”). That's more buzz than a gallon of coffee!

NINE INCHES by Tom Perrotta
The New York Times Book Review is just one of many raving about Perrotta's new short story collection: “His portrait of the suburbs as an essential, if at times heartbreaking, facet of our modern lives marks him as the descendant of such chroniclers of small-town America as Thornton Wilder, John O’Hara and Willa Cather.” Wow. [...]

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Our #FridayReads (9/6/13 Edition)

Our #FridayReads (9/6/13 Edition)

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Anne Spieth

Happy Friday, friends! We're looking forward to lovely fall weather and a good book to curl up with this weekend.
It all starts with today's #FridayReads:

Talia is currently captivated by 

WHERE THE MOON ISN'T by Nathan Filer

Nathan Filer's experience as a psychiatric nurse is woven into his debut novel about two brothers: one who goes missing and the other who doesn't quite come back. Booklist said WHERE THE MOON ISN'T is a “deeply affecting and insightful in its account of mental illness" and Kirkus Reviews called it “A haunting story about how to mourn when the source of your grief will never go away.” Library Journal gave it a starred review: "VERDICT: In this very assured debut, performance poet and mental-health nurse Filer shows that he knows what he's writing about. It should prove catnip to book group participants (especially those who loved Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and will appeal to anyone looking for a serious (but not ponderous) story that's impossible to put down." Available from St. Martin's Press on November 5. 

UPDATE: Talia clearly has excellent taste because WHERE THE MOON ISN'T was just named a November Indie Next selection! 

Anne is getting a lesson in military politics from

BREACH OF TRUST by Andrew Bacevich

Bestselling author Bacevich examines the growing divide between America’s soldiers and the society that sends them off to war, arguing that national defense has become morally and financially unsustainable. Publishers Weekly gave BREACH OF TRUST a starred review and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow praised the book's argument in the Sept. 8 New York Times Book Review: "Bacevich dismantles the warrior myth we civilians and politicians so enjoy worshipping from afar, and replaces that idol with flesh and blood, vulnerable humans, who deserve better than the profligate, wasteful way in which we treat them." Available from Metropolitan Books on September 10.  

We want to know what you're reading. Share your #FridayReads with us @MacmillanLib. Happy reading and have a lovely weekend! [...]

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Thriller Thursday (9/5/13 Edition)

Thriller Thursday (9/5/13 Edition)

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Anne Spieth

We love thrillers. And in honor of that love we’ll be forcing our favorites on you, dear librarian, EVERY Thursday for #ThrillerThursdays. <Mwa ha ha!>

But first, the news:
Congrats to the two THRILLING Macmillan titles nominated for Crime Writers' Association Awards!

Rage Against the DyingShadow of the RockRAGE AGAINST THE DYING by Becky Masterman
for CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year

SHADOW OF THE ROCK by Thomas Mogford
for CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for Best New Crime Writer of the Year 

Winners will be named on October 24 at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2013 in London.

And now, for your enjoyment, our favorite spine-tingling, blood-curdling, full-of-mayhem Thursday reads: [...]

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Our #FridayReads – Labor Day Edition

Our #FridayReads – Labor Day Edition

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Anne Spieth

TGIF! You know what that means: it’s time for #FridayReads! We’re especially excited to get bonus reading time over the long Labor Day weekend. (We hope you do, too!)

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All Our Pretty Songs for Your Library

All Our Pretty Songs for Your Library

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Ali Fisher
This is a story about love, but not the kind of love you think. You'll see.

We want to make sure that Sarah McCarry's lush and curious debut, ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS, is available in your library so we're hosting a giveaway to get it there! 

We have twenty finished copies of this incredible teen title to be shelved at libraries across the country. See details on how to win a copy for your library below.

First, a letter from the author:

Dear librarians,

"This is a story about love, but not the kind of love you think. You'll see." ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS is a grunge remix of the Orpheus and Eurydice story, set in 1990s Seattle and full of myth, mystery, and the unbreakable bonds of friendship--and love. As someone who spent most of my childhood in libraries, it's an honor and a delight to think of my own book reaching a new generation of readers. Librarians are some of my very favorite people--I hope you and your patrons enjoy ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS.

Best,
Sarah

ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS is about two best friends who drink, smoke, mosh, and take care of one another in a wild, post-grunge Seattle where nothing could tear them apart—that is, until the strange summer night that they meet Jack and Minos. Much to her surprise the narrator falls in love for the first time with heavenly guitarist Jack and in her enchanted state doesn't see that her best friend Aurora has become deeply entangled with the toxic and bizarre Minos. When Minos lures Aurora into the underworld with promises of fulfilling her deepest desires, the narrator sets out on a journey to find and retrieve her closest friend.

"Haunting, otherworldly and heartbreaking." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Goths and romantics both will eagerly await the second installment of this suspenseful planned trilogy to find out what becomes of the girls, Jack, and the other well-drawn players in this magic-tinged cast." —Booklist (starred review)

 

 

Enter for a chance to win ALL OUR PRETTY SONGS for your library:

Send Library-at-MacmillanUSA.com an e-mail with your library's mailing address from your professional/library-issued e-mail address (subject: All Our Pretty Songs for My Library) by Friday, September 13th to be placed in the random drawing.

This sweepstakes is open to librarians in the United States. More eligibility details below.

9/16 UPDATE: The sweepstakes is over and winners have been notified.  

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